Creating works of art with watercolor, oil painting, silk, and gardening in rural Alaska.

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A Home for Grace

When I started the “Painting Facebook Photos” series I looked at so many great photos. One of my friends told me about a friend of hers who lived in Kenya who took lovely photos of orphans. So I went to Kate’s Facebook page and to her blog and saw not only some beautiful photos, but a mother’s heart for her five bio children and the fifteen orphans she and her husband, Johnny have rescued. I painted their eldest “orphannomore” girl, Grace, and named the painting “The Shalom of Grace”.

I didn’t realize when I painted the series that all ten of the images I painted were really a study and a sort of mosaic of shalom, which means peace, but it also means rest, wholeness, safety and completeness as well as the process of all that. Painting Grace gave me an opportunity to see shalom from her perspective in a small way. I don’t know the depths of what she has gone through and won’t pretend to, but I know that she is now safe and in the process of healing and restoration because she is with people who love her and who are committed to care for her.

So in the spirit of shalom, I would like to help Kate and Johnny feed all those hungry mouths. I thought first of auctioning off the painting, but then only one person would have the opportunity to help. So instead, I’m going to give you an opportunity to help by having a drawing for it. If you donate $10 to them on their blog here your name will be put into the drawing. Your name will be added twice if you donate $20, three times if you donate $30, etc. No matter who wins the painting, everyone who gives will be able to help and give shalom. The drawing will begin today and end on Mother’s Day, May 13, at 9pm Alaska Time. You will be notified by email if you won and the painting will be mailed to you.

“The Shalom of Grace” original watercolor 10″x13″

I asked Kate what $10 would buy in Kenya and this was her reply:

“We can buy a thick blanket for a person in need.
Flour for a week or two
Almost 90 eggs (we use 35 eggs per egg meal)
8 lbs of meat (we usually use 4 lbs per meal)
2 lbs of butter
Medicines are relatively cheaper here, so that could buy malaria meds for one person.
40 avocados
15 lbs of tomatoes (we use about 10 lbs for spaghetti or chili)
25 large mangos
16 heads of cabbage”